Retirement
by Edmunderson
Summary: Retirementstuck. Basically everyone is old. Rated T because there's some language (Only two words, but better safe than sorry I guess). Terrible summary is terrible.


Disclaimer: I do not own Homestuck.

Alright, so I haven't posted anything in a while, but here you go. Enjoy a oneshot retirement!stuck.

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**Your name is Dave Strider, and you are an elderly man. You weren't always an old fart, you in fact had been young once, but that was a very long time ago. You're still able to get the ladies to fall all over themselves, of course the ladies are elderly like you now. You live in a retirement home, and a lot of the other elderly people who live here too are friends of yours whom you've known since your elementary school days. In fact, the crankiest one of them was and is your first and only love. His name is Karkat, and lately he hasn't been able to get out of bed…**

You're extremely worried about him, and it shows on your face, you've long since given up the poker face (though you do use it sometimes). You and John, your best friend, are playing chess outside talking about Karkat. You're pretty much winning, John has never been good at chess, when he says the unthinkable; "Maybe it's his time, Dave. He hasn't been well for months, and he's gotten worse recently." Your wrinkled hands clench tightly and you scowl. John looks up from the chess board at you, and sighs while lightly shaking his head. "Don't get angry at me Dave. We're old coots now; we don't have all the time in the world. We all die eventually; you can't hide from that fact forever." He gives you a small smile before moving one of his chess pieces. You unclench your hands and look out at the horizon from atop the hill you two are currently at. After a while you reply quietly, "I know we don't live forever, John. But I don't want to live without him, even if I would only have a few years left anyway. You know how much of a mess I was before he and I got together." John chuckles a bit. "It's your turn. Yes, I remember how you used to be. Jade, Rose, and I were so worried that we'd find you murdered in your apartment by some psycho killer you might've brought home." You move your chess piece before you say, "I don't know how you managed to deal with Vriska's passing away." John's toothy grin turns into a sad smile, almost a frown, "I knew she wouldn't want me moping about forever and she would've wanted me to move on, but she had died when we were so young, but I couldn't move on, Dave. I couldn't. Still can't. You know, Jane doesn't even remember her mother, but she was just a baby when Vriska died." You felt bad for bringing up John's dead wife, but you had wanted to know how he dealt with her death. Vriska had been only 22 when she died in a car crash. She and John had their whole lives ahead of them, she didn't get to see her daughter grow up, get married, have children of her own. She didn't get to grow old. John was beginning to tear up, so you suggested that you both go inside, it was getting late. You both left behind the unfinished chess game as the sun was setting.

You head back to the room you shared with Karkat. When you opened the door he looked up from the book he was reading. "Hey fuckass," he greets you with a soft, wrinkled smile. You can't help but smile as well and greet him with "Hey Vant-ass." You lie down next to him and he puts away his book so he can curl up next to you. His head rests on your shoulder, and you both begin to talk about things, you bicker, you laugh, you fondly remember things from your younger days. But then Karkat says he's feeling tired and cold, and you know he shouldn't be cold because it was nearly 80 degrees in the room and he had such a heavy comforter draped over him and then it hits you. You interlock your fingers with his and lightly squeeze his hand and kiss him one last time. "It's okay, go to sleep. I'll be here when you wake up." Karkat mumbles out a goodnight and then his eyes close. He's gone. You begin to cry, silently of course. You hold him close to you and cry. Your heart is breaking and you know it. You cry yourself to sleep.

You wake up, expecting to see a dead Karkat, but he's not. He's young again, and so are you. He smiles at you and says, "It's about time you showed up." You realize what has happened, and you smile back at him. This isn't heaven, but some sort of afterlife, and you're okay with it because Karkat's here.

The nurses come in the next morning to find that Dave and Karkat had both passed away sometime in the night. They cry because they had enjoyed having them around. John and Jade sob their eyes out, Rose keeps quiet, but will cry later by herself. Terezi and Gamzee bawl their eyes out as well, Kanaya keeps herself composed but cries with them. John goes back to the chess table at the top of the hill, the game still unfinished. As much as he hates to think it, he's happy that they passed away together, especially at their old age. If they had been younger and it was only Karkat who had passed away, John knows that Dave would have destroyed himself. John sits down, staring at the chess pieces, wondering when the day will come for him when he'll see his beloved Vriska again…


End file.
